Gadra

The Gadra was a clan of the White FaceBarghast. The Snakehunter,[1] a minor sub-clan, was part of clan Gadra. Besides the characteristic white face paint, the Gadra used red and yellow ochre on their bodies and braided their hair.[2]

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Clan Gadra was one of the twenty-seven White Face Barghast clans which had migrated en masse from Genabackis to the central plains of the Lether continent. The White Face clans had dispersed upon arrival and the Gadra had been fortunate enough to find a "decent" bhederin herd in a pocket between the Akryn and the Awl'dan. Since the Gadra were a "small"[3] clan, the herd was sufficient to sustain them for a time, leading the Gadra to settle in the area. Stolmen was warchief of the Gadra, and his wife was Sekara.[4][5]

Living among the Gadra were Torrent, the "last warrior of the Awl" - along with roughly forty Awl children who had been under his care;[6] and Setoc, a young Letherii orphan, who had been found by a Gadra warrior in the wilderness and brought back to the Gadra encampment. Setoc was considered "spirit-blessed" by the Gadra, and she periodically voiced ominous and unsettling predictions of the future.[7]

A small group of eighteen Gadra scouts, far from camp, were discovered slain, one and all, by a mysterious enemy.[8] This caused immense turmoil among the Gadra - especially among the younger warriors - and resulted in the Gadra viciously lashing out at any 'outsiders' who happened to be guilty of nothing but of being nearby.[9] The Gadra victims, to begin with, were the traders, merchants and horsedealers - and their spouses and children as well - of the Akrynnai, D'ras, and Saphii who had been camped close to the Gadra encampment. These, the Gadra mercilessly tortured and then crucified.[10]

In the end, the Gadra chose to wage war on the Akrynnai, even though, as the visiting "Great Warlock", Cafal, of clan Senan said, in great frustration - "But the Akrynnai have done nothing."[11] Not wanting to have anything to do with this foolhardy, extremely rash behaviour of the Gadra; Torrent, Cafal and Setoc all prepared to leave the Gadra encampment. Before actually departing, Setoc directed a tirade at the belligerent Gadra, spelling out the dire consequences that they were thoughtlessly inviting by initiating hostilities, completely unprovoked, with the Akrynnai. Setoc's words utterly enraged the Gadra - Sekara in particular - and Setoc and her two companions had to leave precipitously.[12]

The actions of clan Gadra having triggered an all-out war between the White Face Barghast and the Akrynnai, the small clan lost no time in retreating "to the safety of [clan] Senan". During this long retreat, the Gadra soon realized that they had badly underestimated the quality and quantity of Akrynnai warriors and their allies, who soon "left the Barghast reeling".[13]

The ultimate result of the war that the Gadra had begun so heedlessly, proved, in the end, to be catastrophic for all the parties involved.[14][15]

"No one liked being a victim of the unknown. [The Gadra] were driven to lash out, driven to deliver indiscriminate violence upon whoever happened to be close...the Akrynnai, the D'rhasilhani...The Gadra Clan was going to war. Warchief Stolmen was under siege...to deny the murderous hunger of his warriors would see him deposed, bloodily...Edges singing on whetstones, the Barghast were going to war."

"[The Akrynnai] did not kill your scouts. You all know this. And you do not even care...[You will] wage senseless war upon the wrong enemy, and so it will come to pass that, by the actions of the Gadra Clan, every people in this land will rise up against the Barghast. [The White Face Barghast] will be assailed from all sides. And those of you not killed in battle will be driven into the Wastelands...and there you will vanish, your bones turning to dust."